Some crypto scams stand out for the audacity of the scammers and the sheer amount of money they steal. Police in Canada on Monday announced that an Ontario resident fell victim to a costly swindle.
According to the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), a resident of Renfrew County lost $50,000 to scammers. Their modus operandi was to impersonate various government agencies as well as the police themselves.
Ontario Police Raise Alarm About Crypto Scams
A CityNews Ottawa report states that the unnamed victim approached the police with an account of having received “multiple spoofed phone calls.” The callers claimed to be reaching out on behalf of federal agencies and the police. They told the victim of a problem requiring the victim to convert money to Bitcoin and send it to them using a Bitcoin ATM.
The CityNews report does not specify the exact pretext that the bad actors put to use in this case. But it warns people to be wary of calls where the caller claims some kind of problem with your Social Insurance Number (SIN). Or, alternatively, an intercepted package addressed to you.
In these instances, it is a grave mistake to convert funds and send them to the putative authorities via a Bitcoin ATM, as the victim here did. Or, indeed, to provide any payment in any form to unknown parties claiming over the phone to be law enforcement.
A government agency will never call someone to tell him or her about the hacking of a SIN, the report cautions.
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Author: Michael Washburn
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